Taraji P. Henson appeared on a recent episode of Hoda Kotb’s podcast Making Space (via People) and reflected on the moment she realized how differently male and female actors were treated in Hollywood. The Oscar-nominated actress broke into film in 2001 with John Singleton’s coming-of-age film Baby Boy, which also marked Tyrese Gibson’s feature film debut. However, only one of them became a franchise star.
“That was huge for me. I was the female lead. I was new to Hollywood, and I remember people coming up to me and saying, ‘Oh my God, you’re going to explode. Do you understand what John Singleton is doing to people’s careers? Look at this person and this person,'” Henson recalled. “But I don’t know. Insight told me something different, and I just knew it wasn’t going to be like that. Something stuck in my mind and I was like, ‘I don’t know that something like that would happen to me overnight.'” And, of course…but deep down I knew it was going to be that way for Tyreese as well. ”
“After ‘Baby Boy,’ Tyrese booked two huge franchise movies, ‘Transformers’ and ‘Fast and Furious,'” she continued. “I haven’t booked a franchise movie yet. I’ve been in the game for almost 30 years. There’s no franchise movie. I’m not going to cry about that. I mean… I know what it is. I’m on the other side of the table right now. I know there’s politics involved, so you can’t hurt my feelings any further.”
It should be noted that Henson has primarily appeared in series through voice roles such as “Ralph Breaks the Internet,” “Minions: The Rise of Gru,” and “Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie.” She also had a supporting role in the 2010 series The Best Kid, but in an interview with Kotb, she said she would not play a major role in a Hollywood live-action film series.
Henson has never been one to stay silent about Hollywood’s mistreatment of women, especially women of color. It is worth noting that she took a month off from work last year and moved to Bali after being “disappointed” by the machinery of the film and television industry.
“I was just frustrated and bitter. I’m not a bitter person,” Henson told Variety in May 2025, nodding to the ongoing struggle in Hollywood over the lack of prominent roles, pay and recognition for women of color. “I promised myself that if I got there, it would be time to walk away. I wasn’t doing myself, the audience, or the character I was playing. Thank God I was able to do that. I came back refreshed and with a new perspective.”
Ms. Henson said that for years she had “been paid less than this and gotten away with it. But that’s no longer the case!” When she returned from a month-long vacation in Bali, she jumped straight into business opportunities outside of acting, such as beauty brand TPH, “rather than relying on a check from Hollywood.”
In a much-talked-about interview with SiriusXM in December 2023 during the press tour for The Color Purple, Henson broke down in tears as she spoke about the pay gap still faced in Hollywood, despite her success with Empire and an Oscar nomination.
“I’m tired of working hard and being polite about my work (and) getting paid a fraction of the cost,” Henson said. “I’m tired of my sisters hearing the same thing over and over again…Every time I do something and break the glass ceiling, every time it’s time to renegotiate, I hit rock bottom again as if I hadn’t done what I just did, and I’m tired. Tired. It’s exhausting. What does that mean? What does it say to me? If I can’t fight for them coming from behind, what the hell am I doing?”
Henson is currently preparing to make his Broadway debut opposite Cedric the Entertainer in August Wilson’s revival of Joe Turner’s Come and Gone.
